{"id":125320,"date":"2026-03-24T13:31:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T17:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/rubio-testifies-in-trial-of-ex-florida-congressman-allegedly-hired-by-maduro-government-to-lobby-for-venezuela-125320"},"modified":"2026-03-24T13:31:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T17:31:29","slug":"rubio-testifies-in-trial-of-ex-florida-congressman-allegedly-hired-by-maduro-government-to-lobby-for-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/rubio-testifies-in-trial-of-ex-florida-congressman-allegedly-hired-by-maduro-government-to-lobby-for-venezuela-125320","title":{"rendered":"Rubio testifies in trial of ex-Florida congressman allegedly hired by Maduro government to lobby for Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> is testifying Tuesday in the trial of former Miami\u00a0congressman\u00a0and roommate David Rivera, who is accused of trying to\u00a0lobby members of Congress and the White House on behalf of former Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rubio, testifying in a packed federal courtroom in Miami with heightened security, said he and Rivera became “very close” when both overlapped for six years as members of the Florida Legislature in the early 2000s. Rivera, a Republican, was arrested in December 2022<\/a> on charges of money laundering and\u00a0representing\u00a0a foreign government without registering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In July 2017, Rubio said he got a call from Rivera saying he needed to see him urgently to discuss Venezuela.<\/a> The next morning, Rivera traveled to Washington and, at a meeting at his home, said he was working with Raul Gorrin, a media magnate in Venezuela who was Rivera\u2019s main conduit to the Maduro government, on a plan to persuade Maduro to step aside.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I was skeptical,” said Rubio during his testimony, according to The Associated Press, adding that the Maduro government was full of “double dealers” who were constantly pitching plans to betray Maduro.\u00a0<\/p>\n

VENEZUELA\u2019S DELCY RODRIGUEZ REPLACES SANCTIONED LOYALIST DEFENSE MINISTER WITH MILITARY INTEL HEAD<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

“But if there was a 1%\u00a0chance\u00a0it was real, and I had a role to play alerting the White House, I was open to doing that,” he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Within days, borrowing talking points provided by Rivera, Rubio wrote and delivered a speech on the Senate floor signaling the U.S. would not retaliate against Venezuelan government insiders who worked to push Maduro from power, the AP reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He provided me with insight into some of the key phrases that regime\u00a0insiders would\u2019ve\u00a0wanted to hear to know this was serious,” Rubio testified. “No vengeance, no retribution.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the\u00a0indictment\u00a0against Rivera,\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0no\u00a0indication\u00a0that Rubio acted improperly as a senator at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The allegations come in connection to a $50 million consulting contract Rivera signed with Venezuela\u2019s socialist government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The indictment alleges Rivera, at the start of the Trump administration, was part of a conspiracy to lobby on behalf of Venezuela to lower tensions with the U.S., resolve a legal dispute with a U.S. oil company and end U.S. sanctions against the South American nation \u2014 all without registering as a foreign agent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RUBIO SAYS CUBA NEEDS \u2018NEW PEOPLE IN CHARGE\u2019 AS BLACKOUTS, UNREST GRIP ISLAND<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of his work, Rivera and his co-defendant are accused of trying to arrange meetings for then-Foreign Minister Delcy Rodr\u00edguez \u2014 now Venezuela\u2019s acting president \u2014 in Dallas, New York, Washington and Caracas, Venezuela, with White House officials, members of Congress and the chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To cloak their activities, prosecutors said, the co-defendants and others set up a chat group called MIA \u2014 for Miami \u2014 in which they used Spanish-language code words like “Little Cuban” for Rubio, “The Lady in Red” for Rodr\u00edguez and “melons” for millions of dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This case is about two things: greed and betrayal,” prosecutor Roger Cruz said in his opening statement Monday. “The evidence will show that for $50 million these two defendants made a pact to secretly lobby for Nicol\u00e1s Maduro,” as well as for Rodr\u00edguez.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rivera, 60, counters that his one-man firm, Interamerican Consulting, was hired by an American subsidiary of Venezuela\u2019s state-owned oil company \u2014 not the company itself \u2014 and therefore did not need to register as a foreign agent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His three-month contract, his attorney says, was focused exclusively on luring Exxon back to Venezuela \u2014 commercial work that is\u00a0generally exempt\u00a0from the Foreign Agents Registration Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Separate and\u00a0wholly distinct\u00a0from that consulting work were his efforts with the Venezuelan opposition to pave the way for Maduro\u2019s exit, Rivera’s defense said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fox News’ Gillian Turner, Fox News Digital\u2019s Danielle Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/rubio-testifies-trial-ex-florida-congressman-allegedly-hired-maduro-government-lobby-venezuela <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is testifying Tuesday in the trial of former Miami\u00a0congressman\u00a0and roommate David Rivera, who is accused of trying to\u00a0lobby members of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-125320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRubio testifies in trial of ex-Florida congressman allegedly hired by Maduro government to lobby for Venezuela - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/rubio-testifies-in-trial-of-ex-florida-congressman-allegedly-hired-by-maduro-government-to-lobby-for-venezuela-125320\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rubio testifies in trial of ex-Florida congressman allegedly hired by Maduro government to lobby for Venezuela - 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